10.31.2010

say hi to mom

Said hi to mom today. She's all right.
All Saints' weekend at my parents' home. This afternoon, Auntie and I bought flowers for mom in Alabang -- a basket of leafy things for P30 and a bunch of yellow flowers for P100. Auntie's arrangement powers know no boundaries. Jaraaan -- parang P500 bouquet pero hindi singmahal haha.

Not too many people yet in the memorial park today -- could be that they're coming in full force later tonight and leaving tomorrow morning. In any case, we'll drop by again tomorrow before heading back north to avoid tomorrow's deluge.

*

Also: I didn't know I could connect flat screen monitors to Panda until TODAY. This information makes me very happy since I could use a 15-in screen with these eyes. YAY.

EDIT:
(cut for things I did with this flatscreen a.k.a. watching old videos of The Corrs)

10.22.2010

new lesbians on my tv!

And by that I mean, on my computer.

We're two episodes into new British lesbian drama Lip Service, which was basically sold to me by Andrea as "The L Word but British." LOL, have I ever mentioned anywhere that one of the things I loved best about L Word was Helena's accent? And we all remember that the last British show she sold to me was SKINS (and well, we all know how that turned out -- emotional investment of the oh god these children give me lots of feelings, etc. and then bam season 4 = BASEBALL BAT WTF ANYWAY--)

So British L Word? Meaning, lesbians with accents in always rainy weather? In summary: SOLD.

(cut for lesbians.)

10.21.2010

seaside nights and the maginhawa-UP food trip

We've been hearing some good things about the Maginhawa food strip so we decided to try out a few haunts last Saturday before the typhoon blew in -- had lunch at Cocina Juan near Ministop, then dessert at I Heart Froyo (whose owners were two UP law students who were batchmates of Journ friends - hello there, small world!).

(Note: I stole all these photos from Andrea, whose accounts of this weekend are right here and here on her LJ. YEHEY ATTRIBUTION WIN. Anyway...)

Cocina Juan at 100 Maginhawa St.
I heart their quirky water bombs!

10.13.2010

weekend roundup

Last week has been one of the most tiring to date hah what with all those preps we had to undergo in order to bring correspondents from all over Luzon and Visayas to Makati for the weekend's Read-Along 101 workshop - yes, similar to that one in Marinduque earlier this year, but without the, uh, beach. Heh.

(cut for real-life rambling and shop talk)

10.06.2010

mentors

I guess I was most interesting in high school. As a student, I meant. Older I was more interesting as a friend, while in grade school, I assume I was basically a non-entity -- well, after having to transfer schools because of some wise-ass comment in a math class that led to a bitter falling out between me and my math teacher that cost me a valuable award that caused my mother's rage against the school system etc -- I guess, I had to lay low a bit, hmm? Heh. So, yeah, I was most interesting as a student in high school.

Of course, by 'interesting' I meant I was this horrible, difficult, moody, indecipherable blob of angry mass. I may have been thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and in the middle of a crisis also known as my mother passing away. It was 1998, 1999, 2000. I did not know what to do with myself.

(Cut for long-winded, direction-less ramble)

10.04.2010

something has to be said

Suicides put light on pressures on gay teens via The New York Times -- something has to be said about the unnecessary violence and hate that has spawned too many suicides among LGBT youth in the US these past few weeks. Most of these kids caved in to the pressure of bullies who preyed on them for being gay.

Ellen DeGeneres said it best: "People's minds will change, and you should be alive to see it." And so we continuously live in hope. On YouTube, there's the It Gets Better Project, where people submit their own videos and testimonials to encourage LGBT victims of bullying to hang on because it will get better. Columnist Dan Savage, who launched the project, posted a video of him and his husband Terry relating how they survived bullying in their respective schools and communities when they were younger. I think the effort is inspiring. In a comment left on the Youtube channel, a mental health professional lauded the effort, saying it will "literally save lives." I will be praying for that, as well.


Dan and Terry's video -- ngl, this made me teary.

I'm uncertain if this is something we can relate to the Filipino LGBT experience -- I can't rememember something similar making it to the news (and maybe that in itself shows how this country's media views LGBT issues?), and I was fortunate enough to have come out as lesbian to a very supportive circle in college (who would have protected me from bullying the same way they protected me from heartbreak -- ah, I love you guys.) Not to mention that Andrea's family and mine have been accepting and supportive of us as well. However, I have heard of stories though, of friends getting disowned by their own families for being who they were and loving who they did and choosing to stand up for that love -- I guess to a degree the message of the whole movement does apply here too.

Some people we meet in life will give us a hard time -- they will make us cry, break our hearts, disappoint us, hurt us -- but that doesn't mean they are all life has to offer, and you have to stay alive and keep living so you could meet all the other wonderful people life still has in store for you. This applies to bullies, to oppressive families, to abusive ex-partners, to rubbish friends. They are meant to make us stronger, not to break our spirit.

I think it's important for people who have succeeded in overcoming such obstacles speak out and say it: Things get better, it's what they do.

(PS: Oh you should check out these vids once your connection allows YouTube. I'm crying and laughing at the same time, and for all the good reasons.)

10.02.2010

we were both young when

Amanda Seyfried is Sophie in "Letters to Juliet"
(Also: Damn girl, why so PRETTY?)
Unexpected delight is unexpected -- this movie makes me inappropriately squee-y. Cut for spoilers! (LOL IKR!)